Vehicle door latch



Jan. 29, 1929.

w. MARSHALL ET AL I VEHICLE DOOR LATCH 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 16, 1925 Jan.29,1929. 1,700,231

W. MARSHALL ET AL l VEHICLE DOOR LATCH Filed Feb- 16, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet a@ my #um ffm 46M Gttoznma Patented Jan.' .2.9,V 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM MARSHALL AND FREDERICK KIEHLER OIE DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOE 1 TO BRIGGS MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, A CORPORA- TION 0F MICHIGAN.

VEHICLE DOOR LATCH.

. Application nit-.a February 16, 1925. serial No. 9,661.

This invention relates generally to latches designed particularly for use with vehicle doors and consists of certain novel features of construction, combinations and arrangements of parts as will be more fully described and particularly pointed-out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying' drawings;

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a latch embodying our invention applied to a vehicle door.

. Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1..

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view taken on the lline 3-3 of Figure 1. b Figure 4 is a top plan view of the latch Figure 5 isa side elevation thereof.

Figure 6 is a top plan view of the case plate.

Figure 7 is a horizontal section view through a slightly modified form of construction.

Figure 8 is a side elevation of another modified construction. y

Figure 9.is a detail top plan view of the bolt shown in Figure 8.

Heretofore the case plates of door latches have been mounted upon the inner sides `of the doors-and the locking bolts of such latches have been retracted from the outside of the doors by rotatable spindles extending through the doors. With such constructions, the

illars of the doors were usually quite large 1n cross section to accom-modate the spindles,-

which ordinarily were spaced several inches from the free edges of the doors, thus the vision of the occupants of the vehicle was limited. Furthermore when the outside operating means extended through the door, the vertically movable glass panel usually provided in the doors had to be relatively narrow so that the movement thereof would not be interrupted by the operating means for the latch bolt. To vovercome these objectionable features, I have provided a lock having a case plate that may be attached to a door pillar having a very small cross section. Moreover both the case plate and the locking bolt preferably straddle the guide-way for tically movable glass panel 4.

lIn order that a suitable latch may be mounted and operated upon the pillar 2 without interfering with the vertical movement ofthe glass panel 4, we preferably provide a case plate 5 that is preferably U-shape in cross section and that preferably straddles the channel-shaped Guide-way 3. Straddling this case plate 5 an the guide-Way 3 for the 70.

glass panel is a reciprocatory bolt 6 that is also preferably substantially U'shape in cross section. As shown, the shank sections 7 and 8 respectively of the bolt slidably engage the inner and outer sections- 9 and 10 respectively 75 of the ease plate 5, while the transversely extending portion 11 constitutes the head of the bolt and is adapted to engage the striker plate l12 of a suitable keeper upon the door jamh i of the vehicle body. Itwill benoted that this portionll extends at substantially right angles from the shank 8 and has a rounded portion 11- that extends between this straight portion 11 and the shank 7. Thus this rounded portion facilitates the engagement of the bolt with the opening in the door jamb 2. Any su'itable means such as the lugs 13' struckout from the case plate 5 may be employed for guiding the bolt 6, while a helical spring 14 anchored upon the inner section 9 90 of the case plate-is preferably used to normally hold the bolt in projected position.

and is provided with a hub 18 that is jour-4 'In Figure 7, we have shown a. sli ht modi- 65 naled in aligned openings in the outer section 10 of the case late and a cover plate 19 secured thereto. ny suitable means (not shown) may be engaged with the square opening 20 in the hub 18 for rocking the rollback 15 against the shoulder 17 for retracting the bolt. The lever 16 is preferably pivoted at its lower end to the inner section 9 of the case plate, belowthe bolt shank 7 and is engageable with the pin 22 on the section 7 of the bolt for retracting the latter. To prevent the lever 16 from rattling, we preferably provide a spring 23 that is anchored u on a pin 24 extending from the inner section 9 of the case plate and is provided with suitable arms 26v and 27 respectively. As shown, the arm: 27 Shears against the inner edge ofthe lever 16, while the arm 26 is secured to the offset portion 25 of the case plate. Thus,

with this construction, the lever 16 may be operated against the lug 22 to retract the bolt' without affecting the roll-back 15, and the latter may in turn be operated against the shoulder 17 without affecting the lever 16. The spring 14 will always exert a pressure through the lug 22 on the shank section 7 of ,the bolt against the lever 16 so that the latter will normally be in operative position to retract the bolt. Likewise the spring 14 will exert a pressure through the shoulder 17 of the bolt against the roll-back 15 and will normally hold the latter in operative position` against a flange 28 extending laterally outwardly from the forward edge of the cover plate 19.

In order that theoutside operating means may be rendered inoperative from the inside ofthe door, we preferably provide a cam 29 vthat is adapted to be swung downwardly in an arcuate shaped recess 30 at the rear end of the inner shank section 7 of the bolt and engaged with a lateral iiange 31 of the inner section 9 of the case plate. As shown, this cam 29 is rigidly secured to a pivot pin 30 that is -journaled in the cover plate 25 and inner section 9 of the caseplate and is adapted to be rotated by a suitable lever 32 located upon the-inner side ofthe cover plate 32. Thus, when the cam 29 is in engagement with the section 7 of the bolt and the flange 31 of thecover plate, the bolt cannot be retracted by either the lever 16 or the rollback 15.

In order thatsthe retracting means for the bolt maybe rendered inoperative from the outside of the door, we preferably provide a cam 33 that is engagea le wtih an arcuate shaped recess 34 in the outer shank section 8 of the bolt. As shown, this cam 33 has` a hub that is journaled in the cover-plate 19,

and outer section 10 of the case plate and is adaptedto be actuated by a key operated shank 36 of a. suitable auxiliary lock 37.

fication in which the head 40 of t e bolt is preferably provided with a vertical inwardly off-set portion 41 providing a shoulder 42 that is adapted to engage the strikerplate 43 of a suitable keeper upon the door ]amb of the vehicle body to hold the door in partially closed position.

In Figures 8 and 9, we have Vshown a slight modification, in which the inner. shank section 50 of the bolt is preferably provided with a pivoted portion 51. As shown, this portion 51 is preferably provided at rits forward end wit-h a rounded head 52, andy a reduced neck 53 that engage correspondingly shaped. recesses 54 and 55 respectively in the outer section 50 of the bolt. Thus, this hinge joint `movement of the outside-operating means will not interrupt the vertical movement of the glass panel, and it will also be a parent that the outside operating means an inside operating means may be independently operated for retracting thebolt While it is believed that rom the foregoing description, the nature nd advantages of our invention will be readily apparent, we desire to have it understoodthat we do not limit ourselves to what is herein shown and described and that such changes may be resorted to when desired as fall within the scope of what is claimed. 4

What we claim as our invention is:

1.l In a latch, the combination with a case plate having a laterally extending flange, of 'a bolt straddling the case plate, means normally holding the bolt in projected position,

I.means for retracting the bolt against the tenj'straddling the runway, one side of said case plate being provided with al'lange.. for attachment to the door, the other side of said case plate beingv provided with a lateral flange, a latch bolt slidably mounted u on said case plate, actuating means for said olt carried by said case plate, and means fr renderingy said ,actuating means j inoperative in cluding a cam movable between said bolt and `the second mentioned'lateral flange of said case plate. t

y3. A latch for a door of the type having a runway for a vertically movableglass panel comprising a case plate provided with a lateral flange, a latch bolt slidably mounted said bolt carried by said case plate, and means for rendering said actuating means inoperative, including a ycam movable between said bolt and the lateral flange of said case plate.

YIn testimony whereof We alix 'our signatures.

upon said case plate, actuating means for Y WILLIAM MARSHALL.4

FREDERICK KIEHLER. 

